


3. The Place of Magic

by ellie_effie



Series: Beyond the Veil Artober 2020 [4]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Original Character(s), Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26790787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellie_effie/pseuds/ellie_effie
Summary: Zyra Trevelyan had been fascinated with the Tevinter Imperium ever since she felt the early cracklings of magic in her fingers. Years later, no one in her family made the connection of her interest in the Imperium and her magical abilities. Not until the Templars knocked on her father’s door to take her to the Circle and Zyra sat down on the floor, sobbing. “Please, father! Send me to Tevinter instead!”
Series: Beyond the Veil Artober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947253
Kudos: 2
Collections: Beyond the Veil's Artober Event





	3. The Place of Magic

Zyra Trevelyan had been fascinated with the Tevinter Imperium ever since she felt the early cracklings of magic in her fingers. Years later, no one in her family made the connection of her interest in the Imperium and her magical abilities. Not until the Templars knocked on her father’s door to take her to the Circle and Zyra sat down on the floor, sobbing. “Please, father! Send me to Tevinter instead!”

Lord Trevelyan was shocked to hear such a blasphemy: his daughter preferred to live in that Maker forsaken place than to serve Andraste? He dragged his teary eyed child by the arm and shoved her in the directions of the Templars before closing the door to the castle behind him.

Life in the Circle was not easy for a girl accustomed to the leisures of noble life. To think that in Tevinter she wouldn’t need to give up an inch of her status because she was a mage...

“It’s preposterous that we are locked away like dogs while those simpletons walk freely!”, Zyra shouted one evening while looking out the window of the room she shared with the other apprentices. When she looked back, all girls had stopped in their tracks to look at her.

Smiling and with her chin tilted up, Zyra declared: “In the Imperium, where mages are treated as they should be, the Templars exist merely to keep order on the streets. And if we lived there, we would all be highly respected alti!”

“What’s that?”, one of the younger girls asked.

“It’s the nobility of Tevinter: a person without any magical ability can’t be part of the Magisterium, did you know? They are the ones who rule Tevinter.”

“Zyra”, another girl said, “but in Tevinter they rely on blood magic to get things done--”

“I don’t remember asking for your input, knife-ear!”, Zyra cut in, and then lowered her voice “Do you know what they do to elves in the Imperium?”

A heavy silence fell and all girls quietly went to bed soon after. The elf who Zyra tormented still had tear stains on her eyes when they convened for their morning lessons.

Once again, they were being fed the same old story about being careful around spirits, the dangers of possession and all that Chantry babble. 

“Senior Enchanter!”, Zyra interrupted, “Is it true that in Tevinter they can bind spirits to do their bidding?”

“I wouldn’t know of it, Apprentice Trevelyan.”, the old man said awkwardly. “What the Chant of Light tells us, however, is that mages should always be on our guard with demons.”

“I understand it’s what the Chantry says. But why should I avoid something if I would rather bridle it?”

The insolent question earned Zyra a week locked away in a cell. She cried herself to sleep every night, and had dreams where she strolled around the streets of Minrathous, smiting Templars with a quick wave of her fingers.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the beginning of the origin story of my Inquisitor, Zyra Trevelyan. Hope you hate her! :)


End file.
